Lee, my son and I set out on yet another adventure in Amsterdam. We woke up early and had a breakfast together and then went to meet the train to take us to Lelystad, Flevoland where our friends live.
The train ride was about an hour long and then we caught a bus which should have been around 20 minutes but we stopped off at an Albert Heyn to buy some flowers. This was a big mistake as the next bus to go just one stop would only arrive an hour later so we had to call our hosts to fetch us from there. It was only a 10 minute walk but the wind was very cold so we decided not to walk.
Henning, the birthday boy duly collected us and drove us to their house. The following day was Yolandi's birthday - so we had a double celebration to look forward to. This was a real wow moment as we laid eyes on their magnificent view of the lake.
We sat down and enjoyed some of their homemade biltong and some sparkling wine.
Henning told us the story of the wine and how he had met the mayor from whence it came. The vineyard and winery belongs to the previous Major and his wife of Zellerndorf, Weinviertal, Austria. The vineyard belonged to the family of his wife and when he married into the family the name of the wine changed to Platz - Schwayer (her family surname and his family surname).
It was excellent. I'm not a big drinker but I really enjoyed the sparkling wine.
There was another couple their from England that we had met some years back.
Lots of banter and good company and then I went to the kitchen with Yolandi to help cut up some vegetables for the lunch.
We cut up and placed on two silver trays, onions, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and sliced cheese.
This was placed on the dining room table and then the cooking utensil was plugged in and placed on the table. It is called a raclette.
Dishes with marinated prawns, salmon and steak were placed in bowls on the table.
A raclette meal at home uses a table-top grill like this one. The cheese is melted in small pans called coupelles, which are placed on the grill to heat up the cheese. The grill can also be used to cook meat and vegetables. Source Google.
The idea was that each guest would place some veg/salad goodies in the little coupelle (spade that went under the grill) and each person cooked their own food on the grill. What an amazing and novel way to entertain.
Yolandi baked a delicious chocolate cake with lit up bubbles on top.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 52.51798 lat 5.47185 long Birthday Lunch with Two Special Friends d3scr)🎉🎂🎂